Will.i.am debuted his new Barack Obama-inspired music video, “It’s a New Day,” during a live broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show. It aired on Friday. When Will was asked by E! how he got the opportunity to debut the video on the Oprah Show: “I was [in Chicago] on election night, and I was standing next to Gayle King,” the artist said at last night’s Songs of Hope V benefit for City of Hope at L.A.’s Esquire House. “She asked me if I had anything [more] planned, and I pointed to the cameras behind me and I said, ‘I’m doing a video right now, and I have a new song called ‘It’s a New Day.’ And then two hours later, Gayle and Oprah called and asked me to debut the song on Oprah’s show.” (more…)

Kanye West, Will.I.Am, Stevie Wonder and John Legend and other celebs will be contributing songs to an upcoming fundraising album for Barack Obama. The CD will be entitled “We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement,” from Hidden Beach Recordings. The CD will go on sale for $24.99 per digital download and $30 for the physical CD with proceeds benefiting Obama’s presidential campaign through Election Day on Nov. 4. Damn thats an expensive CD! LOL

Hidden Beach CEO Steve McKeever, a longtime Obama supporter, said the idea for “Yes We Can” had been in the pipeline for a while. (more…)

People magazine reports that Black Eyed Peas rapper Taboo married his fiancé Jaymie Dizon on Saturday at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Pasadena, Calif.  Guests included the groom’s Black Eyed Peas bandmates Will.i.am, Apl de ap as groomsmen, and Fergie, accompanied by fiancé Josh Duhamel. The best man was his childhood friend and manager Polo Molina. How cute!

Have you seen the new “hand-painted” Obama sneaker by sneaker artist Van Taylor? Well, Will.i.am rocked the new kicks at Obama’s celebrity fundraiser and at the BET Awards. (more…)

Will.i.am won the “Webby” award for his “Yes We Can” video supporting the presidential candidate Barack Obama. Webby Awards salutes websites and online achievements. Will won the Webby Artist of the Year because of the viral effect of the controversial song that has garnered millions of hits on YOUTUBE alone. The video features Obama’s voice from his concession speech to Will.i.am’s production, and vocals from Scarlet Johansson, John Legend, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Herbie Hancock and others.

This year is the 25th anniversary of MICHAEL JACKSON’S “Thriller”. In celebration of this memorable song, the record company is dropping a new, anniversary edition of the disc. Among other things, it’ll include remixes by KANYE WEST and WILL.I.AM . Specifically, the album includes Kanye’s remix of “Billie Jean” . . . Will.I.Am remixes of “The Girl Is Mine” and “P.Y.T.” . . . and a new version of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” with both Akon and Will.I.Am.

Understandably, Kanye West pulled out of his scheduled performance at last night’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in the wake of his mother’s death. Will.i.am replaced him. The show featured a reunion performance from the Spice Girls and took place at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. The show will air Dec. 4 on CBS.

As for Kanye, a source said that he didn’t think his mother needed any physical improvement.  “I don’t think Kanye was aware Donda was getting the surgery, or certainly the extent of it,” the family friend told the Daily News. “He loved and supported her just the way she was. He thought she was beautiful.”  The source also said a funeral for Dr. West has been scheduled for Tuesday in Oklahoma City.